The David L. Boren College of International Studies is home to 10 research centers and institutes that engage with scholars from all over the world and promote cross-cultural collaboration throughout the university. These centers provide learning opportunities for students, faculty and the community alike, hosting events and guest speakers as well as other initiatives.
CIS has also recently launched a MENA at OU webpage, which serves as a home base for Middle East and North Africa studies, research and programs at the University of Oklahoma.
The African Studies Institute (ASI) at the University of Oklahoma is an emerging, interdisciplinary center dedicated to research and the study of Africa, as well as building a community of those interested in Africa in the state of Oklahoma.
The Center for the Americas is dedicated to enhancing programming at the University of Oklahoma in several areas of the Western Hemisphere. Its major focus in Latin America, but it also promotes activities on the Caribbean, Canada and global U.S. foreign policy.
The Center for Brazil Studies is a hub for teaching, research and outreach relating to Brazil at the University of Oklahoma. The Center works in cooperation with other OU programs/centers, departments, and colleges, as well as with Brazilian institutions, academics and professionals, to provide the OU faculty and students with opportunities to develop language skills (Portuguese), to develop substantive knowledge on/professional experience in Brazil, to engage in contemporary Brazilian debates and to engage in research in, about and with Brazil.
The goal of the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) is to enrich Middle East programming at the University of Oklahoma. CMES brings three distinguished speakers to the University each semester, sponsors informal "brown bag" lunches, and supports Middle East events on campus.
The Center for Peace and Development (CPD) builds on OU’s longtime work with communities in northern Uganda. CPD brings together faculty and students from across the University’s varied disciplines to build collaborative partnerships with communities affected by conflict.
The Cyber Governance and Policy Center is dedicated to enhancing research-based understanding of policy and governance issues pertaining to modern information and communications technology, broadly understood to include cyber-physical systems. The center serves as a focal point for research on such issues at the University of Oklahoma, facilitating collaboration among faculty and graduate students across a range of disciplines including International Relations, Political Science, Law, Communications, Economics, Business, Engineering and Computer Science.
The Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies aims to coordinate a variety of curricular, research and outreach activities at OU that explore the history and culture of Iran and the Persian-speaking world. These activities include lectures, conferences, film screenings, exhibits, concerts and other programs.
The Institute for U.S.-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma was established in August 2006 with the generous financial support of Harold J. & Ruth Newman. The Institute seeks to enhance the understanding and management of U.S.-China relations by simultaneously addressing two sets of interrelated issue clusters — the security, technology, economic, environmental, public health and political (STEEPP) issues, and the instrumental role culture plays in shaping how the two nations perceive and engage each other. To achieve this goal, the Institute works along parallel tracks through public programming, research, publications, symposiums and teaching to tackle both the STEEPP and cultural issues confronting the two nations.
The College of International Studies has launched a new "MENA at OU" webpage to serve as home to Middle East and North Africa studies, research, and programs at the University of Oklahoma. MENA covers peoples, cultures, and lands that relate to the Middle East, the Sahel and West Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and their diasporas.
From 2009-2019, the David L. Boren College of International Studies published an independent, online student research journal, the Journal of Global Affairs. We publish undergraduate research papers that engage with global affair from a variety of fields in the humanities and social sciences.
